Internet based communication systems for vehicles are known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 6,751,452 to Kupczyk, et al discloses an internet based two-way data communication system for programming the electronics of motor vehicles, including GPS and real time communication capabilities.
U.S. Pat. App. 2003/649157 to Salande discloses an interactive system for live streaming of data to and from a moving vehicle using GPS and cellular communications for transmitting data collected by a plurality of video cameras positioned inside and outside the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. App. 2000/593881 to Kolls discloses an in-vehicle device data communications with Internet based data processing resources for the purpose of transacting e-mail and e-commerce.
The above references and transportation devices employing systems that rely on radio frequency to disclose the transmission of data from a moving vehicle to a station or other location. However, these devices are insufficient to provide up to date safety and security information regarding specific passengers or items of merchandise aboard a vehicle, and are unable to perform these functions using commercially available parts.
Therefore it is an object of the present invention to provide a system for wirelessly transmitting data collected aboard a moving vehicle, between buildings, loading docks, or between other locations with communication rules established by a headquarters location that cannot be altered by secondary, tertiary or other locations without the headquarters' permission. Another object is to provide locations where the data can provide real time security information using conventional laptop or desktop computers or any other computing means. A further object of the invention is to provide a security system that employs readily available “off-the-shelf” technology that allows a user to inexpensively assemble an Internet based vehicle security system. These and other objects will become apparent in the following Summary, Description and Claims.